Music

MUSIC is art created with SOUND. What types of music do you like to listen to? Who are your favorite musical artists?

Some artists use elements of visual art, such as lines, colors, and shapes, to represent elements of music and sound. For example, a short or quick note from a song might be interpreted as a short line or a dot on the page. What kind of note or sound do you think a long, squiggly line might represent? What about a yellow circle or a blue triangle?

A vertically oriented lithograph features a dense, central tangle of intersecting black lines and sharp hatch marks. Beneath this web, pops of red circles, blue triangles, and green squares layer against the cream paper. A yellow wavy line snakes through the upper left, while scattered black dots and a red-rimmed circle anchor the upper right. Handwritten signatures occupy both lower corners, framing an energetic composition defined by a chaotic yet balanced arrangement of forms.
Kleine Welten: Abstract Composition with Checkered Plane, date unknown. Vassily Kandinsky. Gift of Mrs. Malcolm L. McBride, 1956.231. © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

The artworks in this section, by four different visual artists, were inspired by music and sound. Choose one and imagine how it would sound if it were a song. Make up a melody that goes with the work of art and hum or sing it for your family. Ask a family member to make up a song or sound for the artwork. How is it the same or different from yours?

A vertically oriented pastel drawing depicts two horizontal sections. The upper half features overlapping peach, lavender, and white fields marked by tangled black scribbles and small colorful rectangles. A large orange triangle with diagonal gray stripes occupies the top right corner. The lower half contains a black field hatched with white diagonal lines, featuring three pink triangles and scattered blue and gray stars. A light blue band runs across the bottom edge.
Shoutin’, 1985. Moe Brooker. Bequest of Frances P. Taft, Trustee of the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1973–2017, 2017.205

Sometimes the way an artist puts together basic elements—like line, shape, and color for visual art, and tempo, pitch, and loudness for music—creates a mood and influences how we feel. When you look at one of these artworks, what emotions do you feel? What mood do you think the artist was trying to create?

Choose another artwork and repeat the activities. How are the songs, sounds, and moods you imagine the same or different?

A vertically oriented abstract oil painting features thick swaths of paint forming overlapping, curving shapes against a pale pink background. A large green crescent dominates the left, while central patches of yellow, orange, and white interlock. Long, sweeping arcs of blue, purple, and red spiral from the upper right toward the bottom. Textured brushstrokes define these layered, petal-like forms as they radiate outward. A small red signature sits in the lower-left corner.
Amorpha: Fugue in Two Colors II, 1910–11. Frantisek Kupka. Contemporary Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.51. © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
A horizontally oriented screenprint on cream paper features broad, calligraphic brushstrokes. A solid black form descends from the upper left, while a textured sweep rises from the lower left, its feathered gray lines merging into solid black. At the center, a vibrant red, multi-pronged stroke points toward the upper right. Small pencil text and a signature are inscribed along the bottom right edge.
Sound, date unknown. Toko Shinoda. Mr. and Mrs. William E. Ward Collection Fund, 1982.239

How Do Feelings Look and Sound?

Follow the links below to listen to two different songs. While you’re listening, draw a picture of how each song might look, just like the artist did in his print above.  

SONG 1

SONG 2

After you’ve listened to both songs, and drawn pictures of each, look at both of your drawings together. In what ways are they similar or different? Did you use different colors? Or maybe different types of lines or shapes? If you had to assign a feeling to each song and drawing, what would it be? Having fun? Take turns choosing a favorite and repeat the activity with your family.

Take a picture of your drawings and share your pictures and feelings using #CMAatHome.

 

Extra Challenge

Improv a song! In his painting Composition Concrete (Study for Mural), Stuart Davis used random shapes and colors inspired by concrete music, an experimental form of music that uses random sounds to create compositions. Walk around your house and pick five random objects, or take turns picking out objects for your family members. What kinds of sounds can those objects make? Can one object make multiple sounds? Make a song using the different sounds that your objects make. Record your sounds using your smartphone, tablet, or computer. Try it out with a family member or a friend using your favorite form of digital communication. While one person performs their song, the other one makes a drawing inspired by the sounds they hear. 

Share your songs using #CMAatHome.

A vertically oriented abstract oil painting features a dense arrangement of interlocking geometric shapes. Vibrant blocks of red, blue, black, and white collide across the canvas. Horizontal stripes and circular forms gather toward the top, intermingling with jagged white shapes. A gray script signature reading "Stuart Davis" marks a red shape on the right. The lower half fills with checkerboard patterns and dots, creating a rhythmic, high-contrast mosaic of hard-edged, saturated colors.
Composition Concrete (Study for Mural), 1957–60. Stuart Davis. Contemporary Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1964.2. © VAGA, New York, NY